(multiple area locations; giantfood.com). Putting together a picnic? The traiteur case at this chain might just be your place. The focus is on salads and sides—one store had five varieties of potato salad—rather than a wide selection of entrées.

Choices vary, but you’ll usually be able to find the store’s star offering, honey-rubbed rotisserie chicken ($7.49). The plump, mahogany-skinned bird is tender and slightly sweet and was as good on its own as when we made it into chicken salad. The grilled, brown-sugar-and-balsamic-marinated chicken breast ($3.79), with a scattering of shallots, is a success by itself or sliced over a field-greens salad. Fried chicken ($5.59 for four pieces) is mild and not too greasy, and oversize Buffalo wings ($6.49 for four pieces) taste the way they would at a sports pub.

The coleslaw ($4.49 a pound), with loads of black pepper and celery seed, is a safe choice, as is red-skinned-potato salad ($4.49 a pound), tangy with mayo and whole-grain mustard.

Most stores have salad bars with reliably fresh ingredients. Soups, fresh or prepackaged in pints ($5.49), come in such flavors as creamy mushroom and comforting tomato bisque and are satisfying with the store’s baked-daily baguettes.

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